Chapter 23
He picked up each foot and examined it thoroughly. “Some of the recent damage may be fixed by the infusion. What isn’t, a plastic surgeon may be able to fix. I can’t say for certain. I don’t know if the infusion can fix his feet. Make sure he keeps eating. I hear he’s going to the dentist. That’s good. The infusion will make his teeth stronger, but it won’t clean them or fix cavities. Make them give him gas before the Novocain if he has any cavities, no pain medication except for Tylenol. Your appointment is at eleven?”
“Yes, one of our dentists has a practice on Sixty-Seventh Street and Park Avenue. I had Vasily call Rene.”
* * * *
“I can’t believe I only had three cavities. My teeth feel so clean.” Donal grabbed Alexei around the waist and hugged him.
Alexei smiled. My little mouse is grateful for the smallest morsel thrown his way. I can’t wait to see his face when we go shopping. I also need some American clothing. Armand said he and Sean will go with us. We’ll see how Donal feels tomorrow.
They got back to the house at noon, and Katya was waiting with a lavish lunch.
“Katya seriously needs some help,” Donal said as he sat down to eat. “She works too hard. All of this cooking plus cleaning a place this big, it’s too much.”
“That’s why my staff loves you, you think about everyone else and not enough about you. Katya has two girls who come in every day to clean, in addition to Boris and a kitchen maid to help her. I haven’t introduced you to the staff yet. We’ll do that today when I show you the rest of the house.”
True to his word, Alexei called together his staff after lunch and introduced them to Donal. Alexei said something in Russian then continued in English, “This is Donal. His word is as mine.”
“Donal, this is Boris and Katya Polansky. Boris runs the household and the accounts, his wife, Katya, handles the cooking and supervises the cleaning.” Katya gave Donal a big smile.
“This is Annette and Alice Bellveau. These two girls are from my home in Colorado. We own a four-thousand-acre ranch in the mountains. We will go there after the spring thaw. They help Katya with the house.” Annette and Alice came up and shook Donal’s hand.
“This girl is Sybil Morel, and she too is from Colorado. She is the kitchen maid. Sybil, Annette, and Alice all wanted to see the city.”
“These six came with me from Russia. They are our bodyguards. They are Vladimir, Georgy, Yegor, Ivan, Roman, and Timur.” Each of the men gave Donal a slight bow.
“Vasily Yudin is my lieutenant and his second is Grigory Popov. If you stay with me, you will meet the rest of the family when we go to our ranch. My mother grew up there before she married and went to Russia. She stayed behind in Russia with my father. I can’t go back, and they can’t come here because of our troubles with the government.” Alexei’s voice broke.
Donal put his hand on Alexei’s arm. “That is rough. When Arthur McConnell married my mother, I effectively lost her. I was miserable for a long time before I ran away.”
Alexei cleared his throat, annoyed at himself for his over emotional response. “Anyway, this is our family in New York. I am the head of the family in Colorado, but Armand is in charge in New York with Rémy as his Second, Marc his Third, and Gabriel, Fourth. Here I am Fifth. In Russia, I was Second, but I don’t want that kind of responsibility anymore. Here I can help Garou Industries do research on projects that interest me. I don’t have to be political. I can leave that to Armand.”
“I’ll try and remember everyone’s name.”
“I’m assigning Grigory to you for the time being. For your own safety, don’t go out without him.”
The doorbell rang. “Excuse me,” Boris said and he went down to answer the door.
Everyone dispersed except Vasily and Grigory. Boris came back upstairs. “Mr. Reyes is here. He says he needs to speak to you, Alexei.”
“Julio? Can he come up, Alexei?”
“Of course.”
“I came over as soon as I heard. Apuso was found floating in the East River yesterday and now his brother Ernesto is gunning for the…” Julio made air quotes, “‘whore who got his brother killed.’ Ernesto is small change to Don Ferone, but he is out for blood and won’t stop until he gets it.”
“What does Ernesto do?” Alexei asked.